China airs documentary showing preparations for Taiwan attack at short notice: Report
Chess pieces are seen in front of displayed China and Taiwan's flags in this illustration.
China has aired a documentary to mark People's Liberation Army's 96th anniversary showcasing its readiness to fight 'at any second'. This is being seen as a warning to Taiwan, which China considers its own territory. In the documentary, Chinese soldiers have been seen pledging to sacrifice their lives if necessary.
The eight-part documentary is called 'Zhu Meng' or 'chasing dreams'. The first part was aired on Tuesday (August 1) on state broadcaster CCTV.
According to a report by South China Morning Post (SCMP), the documentary also shows pilot of China's most advanced stealth fighter jet vowing to launch suicide attack if necessary.
“My fighter would be my last missile, rushing towards the enemy if in a real battle I had used up all my ammunition,” said Li Peng as quoted by SCMP. Li Peng is reportedly a J-20 pilot from Wang Hai Squadron. It is a unit of PLA's eastern theatre command.
The Eastern Theatre Command is China's primary force against Taiwan.
China considers Taiwan to be it own territory and has not ruled out use of force to retake the self-ruled island nation. Chinese drones and even fighter jets regularly enter the Air Defence Zone (ADZ) of Taiwan.
“If war broke out and the conditions were too difficult to safely remove the naval mines in actual combat, we will use our own bodies to clear a safe pathway for our landing forces,” says Zuo Feng, a frogman of the PLA Navy’s minesweeper unit, in the documentary as quoted by SCMP.
The documentary has reportedly featured personal stories of PLA soldiers across services and locations. It also shows footage of military exercises. It has reportedly been reiterated that “the centennial goal of the PLA must be realised”, an apparent reference to Taiwan.
SCMP said that the documentary series offers 'restricted' view of PLA's operation manoeuvres like gaining air superiority, information technology suppression and sea control before an amphibious attack.
China carried out Joint Sword, an exercise that took place around Taiwan. Parts of the documentary focus on the exercise too. The exercise was carried out in April when Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen visited the US.
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